


Lightboat

by mashisims



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Arisa Wedding, EVERYONE is here - Freeform, M/M, Minor Arisa, Teresa and Thomas are siblings, Thomas is so soft, beach vacations, for newt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-25 20:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18171365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mashisims/pseuds/mashisims
Summary: Thomas doesn't want to go to his sister's wedding; even when he has the chance to hit the beach, lie on the sand, let the sun touch his pale skin, or rock those awesome clothes he's never had a chance to wear. He'd very much rather stay home. Luckily for him, when his ticket was too expensive not to be used, he meets with a cute blond he never thought he’d see again.Also known as the story when Thomas met a cute boy and lied about his whole life because he wanted to seem more interesting, and he unknowingly meets him again years later.





	1. I Never Thought I’d See You Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! First of all, I want to thank you for clicking on this story, it means the world to me.
> 
> I know this fandom is slowly dying because well, TMR is over and done and not coming back and we gotta move on, but I still wanted to do this, so, if you're out there, mourning for the end of this series, then, I'm with you!
> 
> I hope you can still enjoy this!

_Summer 2016_

 

Oh, how Thomas wished he could stay in bed that morning. His 9 a.m. alarm hadn’t even gone off yet, but he was wide awake; looking at the flowy curtains in front of his half-open windows, the posters hanging on the walls, the open, never-read college books and clothes spread on top of his desk, and a few over the floor. Oh, how he wished he could sink in under that dirty mess for one more month before the semester started.

However, he couldn’t do that. Not when he had a flight to catch in a few hours and none of the things he should have already prepared had been done yet; not when he didn’t really want to.

Thomas felt too much weight pushing him down to do anything else besides thinking about the things he had to do; that much, that when his mum burst into the room and yelled; “Thomaaas!”, he didn’t move.

“Wake up, get up!”

Laurie clapped her hands a few times following a rhythm as she walked closer to her son. Thomas looked at her with curiosity and wondered why she looked like she was about to pull the covers off him. Maybe because that’s what she did. Thomas’ covers were being pulled all the way down from his chest to his feet and then down to the floor.

“Mum, why?” Thomas protested almost trying to get hold of the blankets again.

“What do you mean ‘ _why_ ’? The plane takes off at one and we need be at the airport at ten! Get up!”

Thomas wasn’t even trying to get up, he wasn’t even trying to feel stressed about the fact that he hadn’t packed nor made sure his clothes were clean or that everything he needed to take was complete. Deep in his gut, he still had a bit of hope he could get out of it; maybe he could convince his mum at the last minute that he could stay.

“I thought about it all night, I think I could use my time better here, at home, in Sherman, get work done, study, do some voluntee-”

He hadn’t finished with his rambling when his mum was already talking over him. “Oh come on, Thomas, you’re not doing this again today, you’re going, that’s it, come on, get ready”

“Just hear me out, the wedding isn’t until two more weeks! I can catch up with you and Teresa and the family in- a week?” Thomas still tried.

Laurie started to walk around the room, looking at the mess on the- everywhere. “No” She said firmly. “Where is your passport?” She picked up a few shirts and pants, trying to find it herself.

“On the desk” He pointed. “What about five days? I’ll see you guys in five days”

“Thomas, why is it stained? Is this ketchup?” She frowned at the dirty passport. “No, you go with us today”

“Minho and I had pizza hast night when he was helping with my stuff, it’s probably sauce” He explained calmly. “Three days”

 “And your suitcase?” She kept walking around the room. “And no”

“It’s in the closet, look, give me one more day, I’m not ready, I’ll go tomorrow”

Laurie opened the closet and took the suitcase out, holding it with both hands as if expecting it to be heavy. When she was able to lift it effortlessly, she looked at it for a second before she pulled it up and placed it at the end of Thomas’ bed and opened it. “Why is it empty? Thomas, where is your stuff?”

Thomas looked at his suitcase and then at his mum, feeling a little ashamed. “I haven’t packed yet” He confessed after a surrendered sigh.

His mum sided her hear and only returned the sigh while staring at him. Thomas couldn’t tell if that face meant disappointment, or anger, but he knew she was not impressed.

“I wasn’t counting on leaving today”

“How come? You knew we were all leaving today, so hurry up, and yes, we are all still leaving today” She left his suitcase open, so he could do it himself, and turned around to leave his room. “Get ready”

The door closed shut, and Thomas fell back to the bed. He continued to look at the ceiling, wondering if he had a choice at all. Too deep inside his thoughts, he almost didn’t notice the lack of silence in the house and he thought he recognized a few voices coming from the outside of his room. And then, suddenly, just like had begun to predict, the people whom those voices belonged too were already screaming in his face.

“Get the hell up, man” Minho took off a, what seemed to Thomas, really dirty straw hat from his head and threw it right at Thomas.

Thomas tried his best to get up from the bed without dragging all off the mess down with him.

“Thomas, can I put these in your bag? I don’t have space in mine” Brenda held a big entangled mess of wires and hair artefacts he only recognized for having seen his mom and his sister use from time to time.

“Why do you need all that?” Minho grabbed the ball of wires and tried to set everything apart.

“For the wedding” Brenda answered quickly, like it was obvious.

“Uh, yeah, sure” Thomas agreed, pointing at the empty suitcase in front of his bed. Brenda smiled and when she took a long stare at the empty thing, she just gently placed her blow-drier, her hair iron, and a few other things inside. “Great, it fits”

“Why haven’t you packed, dude?” Minho asked when he noticed too. “I’ve been ready for weeks” He pointed at his Hawaiian floral shirt. “Man, I can already feel the sun, the sea, those little bars in the middle of the pool, oh man” It looked like Minho was trying not to get overexcited.

“Oh, those are the best!” Brenda reacted the same way.

“We should totally try to find one of those cool cups you can hang on your neck!”

“Minho, they look tacky as hell, what even…”

As Minho and Brenda dipped into another eager conversation about the fun they’d have and the adventures they’d get up to, Thomas scratched his bed head with his hands, and still rocking his bed-time underwear, he climbed down the stairs to meet with his mom, who was cooking early breakfast for everyone.

Thomas was downstairs, and he could still hear his friends bickering up in his room.

“Teresa is too young to get married” He sat down on a stool and spoke directly to Laurie.

She sighed; “She’s old enough,” She slid a cup of juice on the counter for Thomas; he took it as soon as she let go and drank it.

“Well, she’s dreaming too much about having her wedding at the beach; too complicated, a million things could go wrong”

“And yet it’s all prepared and ready, it’s going to be perfect”

“The tropical weather is completely unpredictable” Thomas took a sip. “What is there’s a tsunami, or a tropical storm?”

Laurie looked at him as she filled her own cup with juice.

“Grandma could get overwhelmed with the weather, and someone will probably say it was too bad that we were not in the city to take her quickly to the hospital” Thomas continued to use all the excuses and arguments he had in his dictionary.

Laurie faced him completely, and keeping calm, she slid a plate in front of Thomas.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to spend time with your embarrassing family,” She threw her hands in the air emphasizing the word _embarrassing_. “But Teresa and Aris invited your friends, too!” She tried to encourage her son. “And they seem to be more excited than you are”

Thomas threw his head to the side and frowned.

As a last result, his mom held his face with both of her thin, warm hands, and locked her light brown eyes with his. “Stop being a kid, kid” She gave him a smile. “You’re going to have a great time”.

And that is exactly how all of his intent in trying to get off the trip were sunk in the mud, and after having breakfast and having his friends do practically all the packing for him, having ridden in the middle backseat of a cab to the airplane, heaving met his other friends, Sig and Rachel, there, and having waited for hours until his delayed plane landed, he found himself up in the air for eleven long hours.

_Your wedding better be shucking good, Teresa._

Minho patted the pillow in front of his seat before landing to rest his body and close his eyes. He let out a big sigh and shifted a few times. “We’re gonna be here for long, long hours, man” Minho got comfortable on his seat. “You better chill”

Luckily for him, neither Minho nor Siggy snored during the flight; but Rachel, Brenda and his mum wouldn’t shut up about how pretty their bridesmaid dresses were, and how cool their pictures in the sand were going to look like in a beach- _slash_ -wedding themed album. Thomas learnt more about women fashion in that trip than in his whole-life experience.

 

Thomas couldn’t believe how uncomfortable the arrival to Hawaii was. As soon as he stepped out of the plane, he felt the heavy weight of a hot breeze hitting his face; and his skin immediately felt as sticky and sweaty as if he had just ran a double marathon, and what he couldn’t believe any less, was that everyone around him took the same air and breathed it like they were inhaling fresh paradise for the first time in forever.

The hotel was nice, though; but Thomas was too invested in making everyone notice how much he didn’t want to be there, that he made it a goal not to say anything nice about the pool, or the bar, the restaurant, the rooms, the trips on golf carts, or that jacuzzi…

 

“Man, I love that jacuzzi” Thomas sighed as he let his body drop on the hotel room’s large, silk, white bed. “And breakfast, I love breakfast”

“This hotel is amazing,” Minho agreed, joining him on the bed. “But I might start getting fat,” He looked down at his stomach as he tapped it. “It’s all very nice when the golf carts pick you up and take you to the next stop, I am barely walking”

“That’s exactly why we should actually walk to the restaurant today instead of ordering room service” Sig came out of the bathroom with wet hair, a towel wrapped around his hips and another around his neck, the edges falling on top of his torso. “Although it’s very nice when the food comes through that door and into our mouths”

Both Thomas and Minho complained without words. “I agree with the restaurant part, that’s nice” Minho stood to look at Sig. “But let’s call the cart, it’s a far walk from here” Sig shook his head, took the towel off his neck and proceeded to hit Minho with it.

Using his hands as a shield, yet still being hit a few times, Minho tried to yell him to stop. “Stop, stop, stop!”

When Sig didn’t stop beating Minho with the towel, Thomas saw it as an opportunity, and decided to take the pillow under his head and started hitting Minho as well. “Hey- woah, this isn’t fair!” Minho let out what could have been audible between his face and everything he tried to hide it with. Allowing the towel and the pillow to hit him several times, he turned around quickly and grabbed a pillow of his own and started hitting his friends, too.

And for a while, it was just them; three grown-up friends acting like 5-year-olds in the hotel room of an expensive, city type hotel; and as Minho was receiving most of the beat ups, he asked them to stop once again, and because they were all laughing and a tad breathless, they did stop.

Still laughing and breathing deeply, Minho walked toward the big glass window and stared. From the height of the room, he could see the early birds already sitting down on the edge of the pool, faces and bodies already white in sunscreen. From afar, Minho could notice the slow waves of the ocean crashing against the sand and the rocks, as well as the palms and the trees dancing slowly from side to side in consequence of the delicate breeze he could almost feel on his face.

Minho sighed as he looked through the window, down to the beach. “I’ll say it again, guys,” He shook his head a few times. “I love this hotel”

Thomas and Sig walked closer to him to admire what their friend was looking at. “And I love your sister” Minho turned to look as Thomas. “I could kiss her” Somehow, he managed to keep a straight face.

Thomas looked at him for a few seconds, his stare only growing looser, and his head moving slightly from one side to the other. “Please, don’t” He continued to look at him, even when Minho laughed and walked back to the center of the bedroom. “May I remind you that it’s _her_ who invited you here, to _her_ wedding, with _her_ boyfriend?”

“You mean, fiancé” Sig intervened.

“Yeah, man, I’m aware,” Minho obviated Thomas. “But it wouldn’t be like a love, love-kiss, you know? You’re my brother, so she’s like my sister, so it would be like a love, appreciation-kiss” He explained. “Like a, thank-you-for-inviting-me-to-this-expensive-as-fuck-wedding-let’s-share-our-DNA kind of kiss; like a-”

Thomas cut him off before he could say another barbarity. “Okay, stop, I get it” He was about to give it up when he saw Minho with a suggestive look still drawn on his face. “But still, please don’t kiss Teresa”

“I can’t promise that” Minho lifted his hands up and shrugged. “Nobody can hold back during the effects of a warm but cool wedding at the beach, which I may mention, will be filled with tropical drinks that won’t taste like alcohol but will make your mind go all twisty,” He cleared up after looking at Thomas’ disproval.

“Even then,” Thomas added right after. “I don’t think you’d go for the just married one, who will, just in case you didn’t know already, be the one in white, with the shiny ring on her finger, and uhm, ah,..” He pretended to think about another argument. “…oh, right, has a husband”

“But, who knows?” Minho insisted.

It hadn’t been difficult to make Thomas begin to feel irritated. He knew Minho wouldn’t dare kiss Teresa; or, at least he hoped he wouldn’t be so dense to do it, but it didn’t make him react any less protective.

Thomas sighed and just walked away, proceeding to take his clean clothes out of the drawer and throw them on to the bed.

“Oh, come on, light up a bit” Minho teased as Thomas worked on his outfit. “You need to relax, I am almost certain that I won’t kiss Teresa, besides, we both know there will be some other girl jumping onto my- arms” He said that last word in replacement of something else he was making himself not mention just yet.

Both Thomas and Sig laughed.

“And you can have that, too, I bet that’s what you need, you know? Some, love,” Minho moved suggestively.

“What is it that I need?” Thomas asked, only to reaffirm.

“To get laid!” His friend practically screamed.

“Oh, sure” Thomas lifted Sig’s towel from the floor and smacked Minho one last time before he turned around and reached out for his shoes.

 

Thomas had sure had a terrible attitude in the beginning; but there was no point denying he really, really liked that trip. He asked himself if he would have been happier at home, all alone, watching TV, playing videogames, attempting to do some studying for his next semester at college, than relaxing at the beach, where he didn’t have any obligations nor responsibilities, and he could wake up late to the distant sound of the waves, the smell of salt and thick wind; banter with his friends and his family all day long, no curfews, no limits.

Thomas didn’t like to admit it, but he knew that sometimes, he didn’t know he wanted or even liked something until he had it in his hands.

A couple days later, Thomas received a text from Teresa late in the morning, where she asked if he and the boys could meet her at the beach.

“ _Where, exactly?_ ” Thomas texted back.

“ _Right in front of the entrance. You’ll see mum there_ ”

 

Aris and Teresa stood next to another pair or young people; a tall guy with dark, messy curls, and a short, smiley girl. Both were wearing matching blue T-shirts with the logo of the hotel printed on the right side.

“Okay, guys” Teresa smiled widely as she spoke.

The whole family and their invited friends were reunited in a group in front of them, none of them knowing why they had been gathered.

“Thank you for coming down” She continued. “As you know, today, Aris and I are going to finish up some small details for the wedding, so we won’t be here all day…” She looked at Aris and smiled at him.

“So, we thought it would be fun to organize something fun for you, to make up for our absence today”

Thomas suppressed an unnecessary comment. _Shuck, Teresa. Narcissist much?_

The other pair, who were most likely hotel’s employees, took the stage and continued with the speech.

“You guys are going to do a family competition to raise your festive spirit” The girl explained. Thomas felt a bit weirded out when he heard the loud and pitchy voice coming out of her, especially when both looked so excited to be there. At least they were good at their jobs.

“What do you think?”

“Yes!” Thomas’ mum raised her arms into the air; trying to get everyone on board. Unsurprisingly, his complete family and his friends all thought that the idea was fantastic. So, did he have any other option?

“Okay, so how about this…” The other guy continued. “We divide you guys in two teams, and we’ll divide the day into three different activities. In the end, the team who wins more challenges will be the winner of, drumroll, please”

Teresa, Aris and the girl patted their thighs repeatedly as if they were actually playing the drums.

“A complete, all-included day at the spa, entirely on the house”

Thomas looked around to see the others’ reactions.

“…and, the first activity is, another drumroll please,”

Both the girl and the guy lifted up their arms as they said at the same time; “a beach treasure hunt!”

Thomas wondered if Teresa had given his mom strict instructions to get everyone in the mood for beach activities, or if she was genuinely excited for them.

 

That’s how Thomas ended up crawling in the sand, trying to find seashells, rocks, feathers, bottles, and other sort of stuff from a list printed in shiny, fancy paper. And, it’s not like he didn’t enjoy it, it was more like… like, he- didn’t quite enjoy it, honestly.

Thomas’ cousin, Chuck, had taken the leadership, and had organized the activity within the members of the group, since he had claimed they had higher chances at winning that spa price if they worked together and divided the tasks.

Chuck demanded Thomas went with Minho to complete the ‘ _10 Rocks of Different Colours’_ bullet point. Thomas really wanted to complain, but he always thought his cousin looked rather adorable when he took the lead in such an _important_ events. Chuck was the youngest of the family, and Thomas knew he sometimes felt left out and even underrated, so he played along.

It didn’t take away the fact that he felt stupid; walking around with his head bent down to catch anything he could find.

There had been many times he bent down to take any dug up objects with his hand, and it turned out to be a crab or a snail, so he stopped being so nonchalant when grabbing things, and proceeded to be more careful. He almost looked like an archeologist digging for some treasures.

There was a moment where the sunlight hit perfectly onto a metal lid from a can which had been recklessly left above the sand, and it shone so bright he thought it must’ve been some precious diamond, but no, it wasn’t.

There was another time when he thought he had found the perfect rock at the edge of the beach, but when he began dusting off the sand, he found it was becoming bigger and bigger; like if it was just a piece of ground; which, it was, and he couldn’t take it with him.

And there had been that last one, when something dark caught his attention; he knew for a fact that it was not a rock; but he didn’t know what else it could’ve been.

Thomas knelt onto the sand, trying to get a better look at it. It didn’t seem to be alive, or like it ever was, so Thomas assumed it was safe to grab.

He took it by the very corner; it felt soft, and cold, like it had been there for a while already. He pulled it, and was surprised when he saw it was even longer than it seemed; part of it had been dug up, pressed in the sand.

Thomas shook it a few times to get a better look.

It was a bracelet, with black and brown threads braided together. There was nothing special to it, probably one of those bracelets people buy from peddlers and lose right away.

“That’s definitely not in the list” Minho walked to Thomas. He looked at the bracelet in his hand and quickly dismissed it. “That’s no treasure”

“Yeah, probably not” Thomas looked at it for another second.

“Look, I was thinking,” Minho started. “I really don’t need that visit to the spa, I’m fine”

Thomas sighed in relief “Oh, man, same” He crunched the bracelet in his fist, and without thinking about it, he put it inside his pocket.

“Let’s just go somewhere else,” Minho suggested.

“Please”

“Alright, let’s go”

“Wait” Thomas stopped his friend with his arm in front of his chest. “What about Chuck? He’s really into it”

Minho’s expression dropped for a second; clearly feeling the selfishness rising from his mind. However, a sudden change in his eyes occurred; “Let’s tell him we have an emergency”

“He’s gonna want to know more”

“Let’s tell him we’re looking for the stuff somewhere else”

“He’s gonna want to come with us,”

“Okay, well, let’s say we need to go to the bathroom…”

“Together?” Thomas raised an eyebrow, and Minho kept staring at him with a careful frown.

And like that, Thomas and Minho took off without telling Chuck and their team.

 

 

The hotel gave each person a card they could exchange for a towel if they needed one for the pool or for the beach; with needed to be exchanged back when it wasn’t needed anymore. Teresa believed it was a smart system; surveilled and controlled, sure, but smart. Then again, that close to her wedding day, everything seemed cool. Honestly, nothing seemed to bother her at all.

With the green cards in one hand, and her fiancé’s fingers intertwined with the other, she walked toward the smiley boy across the bar under the thick palm. When the boy smiled even brighter, he gladly accepted the cards and turned around to take some perfectly folded, white towels.

“Do you think we can sneak some of this beer into the party?” Aris held out her bottle of beer in front of Teresa for her to see.

“I don’t think you’ll have to sneak it in, it’s our party” Teresa laughed.

“Yeah, but, is there beer at weddings? Isn’t it all fancy drinks and light alcohol?”

Teresa turned to look at him curiously, and she made a pause before speaking. “Have you ever been to a wedding before?”

“Not at the beach, no”

“Well, yeah, it’s fancy alcohol and all, but it’s your party, you can serve whatever you want”

“Right” Aris agreed. “Hey,” His expression changed to a more alert one. “What about the food? When are we going to test it?” It seemed like the food and the drinks were Aris’ biggest concern.

“It has to be a day before, on Friday”

“Why do we have to wait until then?”

“It’s sea food, it won’t stay fresh forever” Teresa explained in a soft, yet ironic way.

The conversation about food was interrupted by the smiley boy handing Teresa a couple of towels. Teresa smiled at him, and before she could thank him and leave, Aris took out another green card from his pocket and handed it to the guy. “Oh, I forgot, Minho asked for an extra”

Teresa looked at him with stingy eyes. “You’re having him go back, why didn’t you give the card to me before?”

“I forgot!”

“It’s no problem, I’ll just gave to go to the laundry room to get it, we ran out of dry towels, yesterday was a busy night”

“That’s fine, thank you” Aris assured him, and all three of them smiled.

As the guy left, Teresa walked to the corner of the bar, knowing it would be a while before the guy came back to the palm. She laughed at some things Aris was saying before she leaned down and rested her back on the trunk of the thick palm. As soon as she did so, she felt her left arm touching someone else; someone who was already there.

Instinctively, she stood up straight and turned around to apologise. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there”

It was a tall, yet slightly shorter than her, beautifully long, blonde haired girl who turned around. “It’s okay,”

The blonde girl turned around straight away and proceeded to converse with another girl, who was standing in front of her; nevertheless, Teresa couldn’t keep her eyes off her. The girl must’ve felt Teresa’s deep stare, or maybe her friend saw the disbelief eyes on her face, because not long after, the blonde turned around and faced Teresa.

“Sorry, do I…” The girl had one of the biggest confusion faces Teresa had ever seen, but it quickly changed. Her eyes widened, and she looked at her up and down. “Wait, I do,” She smiled. “Teresa?”

Teresa’s face lit up like Christmas when the girl spoke. “Hey!” She exclaimed excitedly. “Sonya!”

“What?! It’s been so long!”

Not even a second after, both girls had their arms wrapped around each other.

“What are you doing here?” Teresa asked before releasing her.

“Uhm, well, we’re on vacation” She laughed. “It’s been a while since we last had time away from our parents, and from London”

“Oh” Teresa smiled again. “So, you’re not here alone?”

“No” Sonya shook her head, still smiling. “Oh, I’m sorry” He held her hand in front of her mouth as she let out a couple giggles. She turned around quickly and looked at her friend, so she could acknowledge her. “This is Harriet,” She introduced her friend. “Harriet, this is Teresa”

Both girls smiled and greeted each other politely.

“Harriet lives in London, too, but she was born in America”

“Really, where?” Teresa asked, now turning her attention to Harriet.

“Arizona” She responded. “You?”

“Kansas”

Both girls nodded awkwardly, and Sonya just kept turning her face from one girl to the other. “So,” She broke the silence. “Are you also on vacation?”

Teresa stayed silent for a while, but only because she couldn’t let out a sound with the stretching of her lips in that big smile; but she eventually did speak. “Something like that” After letting out a giggle, she turned around to face Aris, who was probably playing a doltish game on his phone, and waved her hand for him to go to her.

When the guy finally unplugged his eyes from the tiny screen and smiled at her, he walked straight to her side and nodded at the two girls in front of him.

“This is Aris,” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “We’re getting married in less than two weeks” She performed a small excited jump.

“Oh, really? That’s amazing” Sonya didn’t react as excited as the reactions Teresa was growing used to; her eyes remained the same size, and her voice didn’t switch to a much higher tone. However, Teresa didn’t take it personal, after all, they were pretty much strangers after having known each other for only a few weeks before disappearing from each other’s lives for over six years.

“I know, right?” Teresa was still excited, nonetheless. “Do you remember when we were younger, and I told you about that guy who was in college and was really amazing, and, you know,” She stopped herself when she happened to lock eyes with Aris in the middle of her rambling.

“Yeah, I remember something about that” Sonya probably lied. “Is this him?”

Teresa motioned a circle with her face as about to answer but changing her mind quickly. “Uh, no” She would’ve started to feel nervous and self-conscious if Aris didn’t know that story himself. “That didn’t turn out too well, but,” She pressed the side of her body against Aris’ and touched his chest with her thin hand. “I met him because of that”

“Oh” Sonya smiled and nodded. “Nice”

After that, the situation fell quite silent, as none of them could find anything else to add. Teresa silently wished the towel smiley boy would hurry up so she could have an excuse to go back to the pool in such a hurry; and she knew Sonya and Harriet wanted an excuse to flee as well. She liked Sonya, from what she remembered, she was always a nice girl, but they were far from besties they could share experiences with; Teresa didn’t even know if she could call her an actual friend. It had been some long, long years.

And then, just in time for another distraction, both Sonya and Harriet turned around when someone walked toward them from behind.

It took a while for Teresa to figure out who that person was, trying to unravel each piece of that figure so she could understand why they looked oddly familiar. And then, it just hit her like a cold, hard rock.

“Hey, what are you doing?” The tall guy asked the girls, barely turning to face Teresa or Aris.

Sonya began to face everyone in discomfort, blinking her eyes awkwardly, looking like she needed a quick escape. “Newt,” She began.

Teresa’s heart melted at the mention of the name.

“Do you remember Teresa?”

Newt finally took a second to look at the girl; he stared for a moment, obviously trying to recall where he had seen her, but possibly failing.

“ _Henry_ ’s sister” Sonya added to the introduction.

 _Henry_? Why was she still using that name? Did she mean _Thomas_?

Newt’s eyes moved from Teresa’s to Sonya’s, and then back to Teresa’s, where his eyes lingered, and his face didn’t know what to do with the heaped expressions.

“Hi Newt” Teresa tried to get a reaction. “It’s been a while”

Newt’s eyes hadn’t blinked, not once, but he was able to open his mouth and reply with a “Yeah, it has”

For a moment, everybody was looking at each other, not knowing how to proceed. Teresa decided to introduce Aris to Newt, since he hadn’t been there at the initial presentation. She could tell Newt was forcing himself to react properly to everything that was being said, still having the thought of Teresa’s brother written all over his face.

When Newt took the lead and asked the question, Teresa was surprised the guy was so bold.

“Is _Henry_ here with you?”

Teresa couldn’t stop looking at him. He had grown so much from the last time he had seen him; his hair was not as blond, he was definitely not as slim nor as short as he had once been, and his skin was not as pale, but he still felt like the same Newt.

“Yeah, my whole family is”

Newt’s chest elevated quickly, and his mouth opened, but he didn’t say a word.

“He’s probably smashed in his room, or somewhere with his friends”

“Oh, okay” Newt couldn’t express a proper, readable expression.

Teresa nodded at Newt, and then she felt Aris letting go of her hand and walked behind her, toward the palm bar. She turned around to see what he was going, and she thanked the heavens when she saw the towel boy with a folded, clean, white towel on his hands.

“Thank you” Aris told the guy as he accepted the towel.

Teresa turned back to the three people who were standing like stone behind her and smiled once more. “Well, we better get going,”

They all smiled and nodded.

“See you around, yeah?”

“Yeah, of course,” Sonya waved her hand when neither Harriet nor Newt said a word.

And with that, Teresa and Aris turned their backs to them and began walking straight to the pool’s direction. When they were at a safe distance away, Aris spoke; “That was weird” They laughed. “And who the hell is _Henry_?”

“It’s a long story,” Teresa laughed and intertwined her free hand with Aris’.

 

That same night, when everybody was sweaty, half-naked, and completely sticky because of the new weather, they all thought it’d be a good idea to join the bonfire a few residents had started, but Thomas kindly refused the invitation.

“Don’t be such a standoffish” Teresa called him out, just as she was trying to chase him to the lobby. “Let’s all hang out- and- spend time together” She let out between tired breaths from trying to catch up with her brother.

“We’ve been hanging out and spending time together for four days straight” He kept walking.

“Yeah- well- that’s kind of the idea”

“I know, but I need time for myself as well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow” Thomas opened the door and got inside, somehow expecting Teresa to follow him and continue trying to convince him.

“Yeah- I get it- but-” Teresa closed the door behind them. “I wanted to tell you a- a story in the bonfire”

“You can tell me in my room” Thomas smiled as he pointed at the elevator.

“I kind of needed the environment and the drama- for- story purposes”

Thomas gave her a look when he stopped walking to face her completely. He then shook his head and continued to walk.

“Right, uhm” Teresa intertwined her fingers. “So, Tom,” she had an uneasy vibe hidden in her fake excitement, and Thomas could sense it just fine. “Guess who I ran into today”

Thomas looked unimpressed. “I don’t know, who?”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, you’re not even going to try to guess?”

Thomas sighed, and pressed the button of the elevator. “Okay, uh, Brenda? Minho?”

“What? Well, yeah, I saw them, but they came with us, that doesn’t count” Teresa brushed it off, motioning with her hands. “It’s someone else, someone we haven’t seen in a long time”

“I don’t know, Teresa” Thomas sighed again; annoyed. “Aunt Ava?”

Teresa widened her eyes in shock. “Oh, shuck, no, never”

The elevator dropped and the doors opened, revealing an appealing empty cubicle.

“Then, who was it?”

“Well,” She paused, only earning a few more looks from her brother. “It’s a girl, who we met a few years ago, really nice, kind, pretty,”

“Who?”

“Does the name _Sonya_ ring a bell to you?”

Thomas tilted his head to the side, bringing his serious frown along, he then opened his mouth in slight surprise, and his body fell to the back, siting up straighter than before. “Sonya,”

“Yeah, remember her?”

Thomas nodded very slightly.

“So, I talked to her, we were catching up a bit,” She laughed nervously. “And, uhm,”

“Uhm” Thomas encouraged her to continue talking.

Teresa grinned awkwardly. “I saw Newt, too”

Thomas didn’t move for a moment. His serious expression didn’t move either. He just sat there and thought.

“Newt” He repeated the name, continuing to think, but, just about a second later-

“Wait, Newt!?” The elevator stopped, and they arrived to Thomas’ floor.


	2. I'll Trade Red Lips for a Plaid Shirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A step back. This chapter is going to explain a lot! I hope things make sense now!

_Summer 2010_

 

_Henry_  was like any other kid he knew. Well, in reality, he was just like every kid he desired to be. He played sports as a hobby, especially football. He liked to say he did it every day. He was the captain of a team in his school on  _that_  side of town. Sometimes he would skateboard with his friends at the midnight highway and he would have family game nights every second weekend of the month. He was popular and a soft-hearted rebel, and he didn't like to brag, but his ex-girlfriend had probably been crazier than the last one. All of that, and he would most likely leave town at the end of the summer, when he turned sixteen, because it was better that way for his family.

Or, at least that was what he told Newt; a boy whose eyes shined brighter than every lie  _Thomas_  could come up with. 

Because in the end, that's everything it was; a lie. Or as Thomas preferred to call it; an exaggeration of his boring truth. 

He tried to make himself feel better for having lied to Newt in the first place by explaining and writing everything down, in case he forgot any of what he had said. He was pretty fond of football; specially when he watched it from the bench or when he played on his PlayStation. Of course, he skateboards at the midnight highway; just not with a bunch of cool friends. He has family game nights, and he always manages to win the  _"I didn't fuck up that much today_ " game he had with Teresa. He considered himself a rebel, just not a popular one, and, no, he didn't like to brag, but his ex-girlfriend had probably been just as inexistent as the last one. Okay, maybe it was a bit of a stretch; a truth too exaggerated. But it didn't matter, because he would, indeed, leave at the end of the summer, when he turned sixteen; but he wouldn't go live some adventure as he had said; he would simply go back home from a summer with his grandparents. But, hey, Newt wasn't even from that town either; he was never going to figure out that Thomas had been lying the whole time about who he was. 

Oh, and the name. Well, that's just a piece of evidence of how much he wanted to impress the boy. 

Teresa knew how much his little brother wanted to look good in Newt's eyes when someone knocked on the door a few times, and Thomas immediately arose from the couch and began fixing his hair as he practically ran to the door. 

"Oh, who is that?" She asked right before Thomas could open the door, stopping him from doing so. 

Thomas turned around to face her as he let out a " _huh?_ "; clearly embarrassed, and defeatedly feeling like he had been caught doing something. 

"Is someone here to see you?" Teresa half teased, half really wanted to know because, hey, that baby brother of hers never really did go out on full daylight. 

"We're hanging out today" Thomas explained as he returned to open the door. 

"You and who else?” 

As soon as Teresa asked, Thomas opened the door just about enough to see the tall boy standing in front of her brother. She noticed a slim, healthy-looking body with nice, almost gold, short-cut hair. Thomas opined it was more like the Sun itself was trying to walk inside his home. 

"Hey, Henry" The British lad greeted his new-found friend, waving his hand and sporting an innocent smile. 

"Hey" Thomas smiled; and with that, he stepped outside of his house and loudly shut the door behind him, before Teresa could even ask another question, or at least say goodbye. 

 

The atmosphere was very movie-like; the grass was as green as it could get, and the park was also, as crowded as it could be. Neither of them had seen that many younger children running, playing and screaming at each other, nor families walking together as they enjoyed the non-suffocating heat and comforted their younger kids for having dropped their ice-cream cones. It was a really good summer. 

Thomas and Newt hadn't been up to that much  _yet_ , they had only been hanging out for a little more than a week. For the most part, everything they'd done up to that point was hang out in the park, or the football field, where Thomas would always find an excuse not to play to save his ass. Thomas didn't care at all, though; Newt would tell several stories about his life in Southwark, and he would always listen carefully. 

"...okay, your turn" Newt laughed as the brunette finished rambling about Newt's question. 

Thomas sighed. "Okay, let me think" He breathed as they continued the slowest walk they'd probably ever had. "Oh, I got one" He announced excitedly. "What is something you can do that most people can't?"  

Newt stopped walking for a moment, he looked at the sky and opened his mouth to think about an answer. Thomas thought he looked sort of... adorable. 

"Uhm, I can unwrap a galaxy caramel with my mouth" Newt responded, raising his arms mid-height to show no answer was getting better than that. 

"What the hell is that?" Thomas asked as he laughed, somewhat confused, but credibly curious. 

"What?" Newt asked defensively. "It's the best chocolate!" 

"If it were the best, I would've heard of it" Thomas defended himself. 

"Have you ever been to Britain?" Newt added as they resumed their walk. 

"Never" 

"Aah" Newt exclaimed with an obvious tone. "Get back to me on that when you go there and try a bloody galaxy caramel" He laughed, and Thomas couldn't help to imitate the grin. 

"What is one thing  _you_  can do that nobody else can?" Newt asked, changing the subject before Thomas could continue fidgeting about foreign chocolate. 

"Is that your question?" Thomas eyed the boy. "Are you using  _that_  as your question?" 

"Yeah, why not? I want to know" The blond responded, as if it were a stupid thing to ask. 

Thomas couldn't help feeling dumb, because he had gotten to a point where everything the guy said to him seemed interesting, regardless of the words, and he had started to wonder if he had ever felt that way before about anyone, in fact. 

"Uh, I don't know" He mentioned, looking at the ground. 

"Oh, come on" Newt teased incredulously. 

"It's the truth, I can't really think of anything! There's no weird talents in me" He laughed. 

"I bet that's not true" Newt quickly added. "In fact, I can tell you what your unusual ability is right now" 

"Oh, yeah? And what is that?" 

 

Thomas felt as childish as he could've been if he had had a crush, and a phone, when he was still in elementary school. He found himself alone, wrapped around his bedsheets, looking at the outstanding light from the bright screen of his phone in the middle of a dark room, smiling like an idiot as he read his text messages. 

Newt and Thomas hadn't been texting for too many nights; as a matter of fact, it had only been a couple, but they seemed to be able to text each other just as much as they talked when they hung out, which was a huge relief, considering all the girls Thomas had tried to text in the past. 

About what exactly they talked about, well, Thomas wasn't sure. The sole idea of talking to Newt felt like the most exciting thing he had ever done. 

"I want to see you again tomorrow" Thomas read, and maybe his eyes sparkled brighter than the screen itself. "You can teach me to skate" 

 

So, the next day, that is exactly what they did. Thomas thanked the heavens he actually knew how to skate, even when he always did it by himself, and never with his friends, like he had said.  

Thomas was so excited that they were hanging out in another place that wasn't the park, but it, as well, made him feel a little nervous; seeing Newt in a different light, with a different background led him to describe him in ways he hadn't used before, like _eye-catching_ , and  _good-looking_ , and, oh well, sometimes even  _gorgeous_. 

Turned out teaching Newt how to skate was harder than he thought it would be; mostly because it involved a lot of touching and being held for support and he almost couldn't take it. Thomas learned that a touch from Newt could make him giggle so much, he would most likely forget what he was doing. 

"Are you sure you know how to do this, Henry?" Newt asked as they were both lying on the ground after falling countless of times and getting back on their feet; it seemed like too much at the moment. 

"Please," Thomas let out, standing up in an instant. 

 

Mid-summer, on the couple of days that Thomas' parents left the town to check how things were going at home, he took the opportunity and invited Newt over. He would've died to do it sooner, but he wasn't dreaming of his façade being nailed by his family. He'd also be lying if he said he hadn't started to regret the big lie, specially every time Newt called him "Henry". He began to wonder what it would feel like to hear his name being called straight out from the blonde's lips. However, he would sometimes ask himself if he had even dared talking to him in the first place if he hadn't lied about who he was. 

His parents weren't there, and his grandparents were probably walking around town, but Teresa was. Luckily, every time Newt mentioned something about her little brother's name, she'd give Thomas a look and she would just go with it. Thomas was forever thankful, but he knew she wasn't going to let it go anytime soon. Sooner or later, she'd want a detailed explanation. 

Despite the rollercoaster of stress that Thomas had put himself through all day, he still went upstairs as the night came, took his phone out from his pocket, and immediately texted Newt. Having text conversations and sometimes calling each other had become a thing they would do. They never talked about anything remotely important; they did it for the sole purpose of not losing the communication with one another. 

Thomas' favourite thing, or one of them, was when Newt rambled about Americans having an exaggerated amount of coffee and sodas, when you could just have tea. 

"Let me choose your drink next time we go to that café" 

"Only if you drink any extra sugary coffee I choose for you" 

"What am I supposed to do with that extra energy after?" 

"Oh, well, we can skateboard, go to the pier, play videogames," 

He waited as he saw the green words appearing on his phone, indicating that Newt was typing a response, and as he was about the swipe off the eleven o'clock notifications that came to his phone, he noticed one of them had Minho's name on it. He quickly tapped the message, and it flew open right on top of Newt's conversation. 

"Hey buddy" It read 

"Hey Minho" Thomas responded. 

"Feels like I haven't seen you all summer" 

"Yup, it does" 

A message from Newt. 

"Listen, you remember Brenda, right?" 

"Brenda? Who?" 

"No? Never mind, doesn't matter. The point is, she's having a party right now, so, see ya there?”

“You know I’m not in town, right?

“Yeah, you told me you’re with your grandparents… at a twenty-minute ride town”

“Get your ass over here” Minho added another text.

Thomas mentally cursed himself. How many times had he said 'no' to going out with his friends during the summer, or during school time, for that matter, or agreed to go out, only to cancel in the last minute because he didn't feel like it? An awful wave of cold disappointment travelled the length of his body. 

"Don't say no, Thomas" He read the quick self-response from Minho, as he saw another text message from Newt arriving. "You owe me tons" 

Thomas started typing a lame excuse which included things like "I've been doing thigs all day" "I'm beat" and even "You don't need alcohol to have fun, Minho, think about your life...", but Minho knew him better than Thomas thought, apparently. 

"You know Brenda has this massive thing for you, you do know that, right?" 

Did he, really?  

"Don't ya wanna get some tonight, man?" 

"Do I?" Thomas erased his long text about not going and replaced it with the simplicity of an avoiding-saying-no text. 

"Think about it as your hot summer love" Thomas read Minho's quick text. 

Honestly, Thomas didn't know how to respond. Refusing all these parties and hang out invitations didn't seem like a big deal to him, especially because even when he said no, his friends kept inviting him over. It wasn't until he saw the photos of all of his friends having the time of their lives that he regretted not pulling himself up a bit harder to get his ass off his bed and just go outside of his house. 

Thomas sighed at the thought, and he prepared himself for the inevitable; a long text falsely explaining why he couldn't go... until he saw Newt's name popping up on his notifications for the third time. Instead of answering Minho, he opened Newt's text message and skimmed the three unread texts. 

"I could use all of that, or..." 

"We could try doing something different? Explore town maybe? 

"...Henry?" 

Thomas swallowed at the sight of that name once again, and then he considered his options; a wild thought coming through his mind. 

"You wanna do something different right now?” He texted his blond friend. 

"Like what?" 

"A party, at a friends' place" 

"Right now?" 

"Yeah" 

"Sure" 

Thomas' heart skipped a beat, and then he felt as it began drumming like crazy. He opened Minho's conversation bubble and typed a quicker response. "See ya there, then", to which Minho only responded with a series of emojis, the last one being a beer jar. 

 

Newt and Thomas arrived a little after half past eleven. It had been so long since Thomas had been to a party like that, but he pretended he knew what he was doing; because, image. 

As soon as they entered Brenda's home, Thomas leading the way and Newt closely following, Thomas noticed the warm, thick, foggy, never-changing atmosphere of the place, and he wondered if he would be able to go through the night without drinking and making a fool of himself in front of Newt. 

"...These are your friends?" Newt asked behind Thomas' back. 

Without looking back at him, Thomas quickly debated inside his own mind for the best answer. 

"No" He admitted. "I don't really know anyone here" He heard Newt laughing quietly and he could swear he felt Newt's smile on the back of his neck. 

"Well, shall we find some of your friends, or...?" Newt awkwardly mentioned, as he scratched the back of his head with his left hand. 

"What?" Thomas asked the boy with a smile. "No, no rush" He casually added. "Come on," 

Thomas guided Newt straight to the table where the alcohol was placed. Thomas quickly proceeded to take a bottle of, honestly, he had no idea what it was, and served a reckless amount inside a classic red cup, and then grabbed a halfway finished bottle of white soda to combine with his drink. 

"Isn't it a little too early for this?" Newt told Thomas, pointing at the table, but still accepting the cup when it was handed to him, anyway. 

"No, it's almost midnight, and we're late" Thomas responded as he created a replica of Newt's drink, except his had less alcohol in it because he wasn't determined to do something completely embarrassing. 

Thomas quickly turned to the side, facing Newt, and raised his cup up in the air. "Cheers" He crashed his cup with Newt's and proceeded to drink whatever beverage he had created; not wasting any time, apparently. 

"You cheater" Newt whined, looking down at his cup. "Did you see how much you put in mine?" 

"It's about the same" Thomas waved his hand nonchalantly, and Newt continued to complain. "Just drink it" 

Newt looked down and sighed. He brought the red cup to his lips and took a sip. "Ugh, mate" 

"I know" Thomas laughed. Right after Newt's disgusted face faded and he debated between taking another sip or not, as he continued to look down at his drink, Thomas left his fairly full cup on the table and turned around almost immediately, quietly murmuring a "come on," 

But just as he was about to dare take a step, Newt grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Oh, no" Thomas made a confused look. "You're not letting me drink by myself" 

Thomas was about to complain the same way Newt had before, but he figured it was no use, since Newt wasn't even looking at him as he was too busy already grabbing Thomas' deserted cup and filling it with a different kind of substance. 

"Okay, well, that's not fair" Thomas pointed at the cup. "Now you're mixing, I didn't mix yours!" 

"Just drink it" 

Thomas stared at Newt without saying a word, realizing he was just using the same line he had used with him. "If I end up fucked, it's your fault" Thomas took the drink from Newt's hand, kind of taking the chance and advantage of the situation and accidentally brushed Newt's hand with his fingers while doing so. 

He took a big sip. 

"You're the one who had the idea of coming here" Newt responded, raising his arms mid-air and shaking his head. “Set the example” He smirked.

Thomas would’ve complained, but something about Newt’s smile made him lose it for a second. He felt like he had to look away, but he couldn’t take his eyes off that face, so he smiled back.

Newt kept staring, but maybe the realization had hit him too; that he had been staring for too long, so he just quickly moved his eyes away and sighed heavily. “…So” He began, looking down. “Are you meeting your friends here?”

Thomas had to look away too, but he wasn’t as successful as hiding a smile and a blush like Newt was. “Uhm” Was everything he would say before he organized the thoughts inside his head. “I don’t know where they are” He took his phone out from his back pocket. “I should probably just…”

Thomas stopped.

Thomas was going to suggest calling Minho or anyone else he knew, which weren’t a lot of people, so they could meet with them. For half a second, Thomas’ mind considered all the good and exciting scenarios where Minho and Newt met, and Minho welcomed the boy to America and told him he was a nice guy, and them he somehow sensed the tension between the two lads and became the first person Thomas ever talked to about Newt and how he felt; and then, maybe, Minho would even mention something embarrassing that would lead to Thomas and Newt having to acknowledge their _situation_ , but maybe he would say something about… Thomas; _Thomas_ , not _Henry_.

Newt threw him a look, waiting for him to continue and wondering why he had suddenly stopped talking.

Thomas looked up to meet Newt’s stare and them back down at his phone. “Uh, never mind” He kept his phone back inside his pocket and gave Newt an embarrassed smile, one which was sweetly returned.

“We can just, hang by ourselves, if that’s okay” Thomas suggested with a cautious look.

Newt replicated his last sweet, shy smile and nodded. “Sure”

They spent their time in that house filled with strangers, talking about nonsense as they usually did, giving each other mixes of drinks they wouldn’t taste but throw away into the plants or the bathroom. Thomas would casually avoid everyone he did know, and he would pray he wouldn’t get to meet with Minho, because that would be an issue, and he was starting to have such a great time with Newt that he couldn’t dare feeling bad for the appearance of having ditched his friends in another party if he never actually called Minho to tell him he was there.

He’d be a lucky guy if by the end of the summer he still had friends; but at that moment, it didn’t exactly matter, because Newt seemed to be the only person he needed to have a good time.

 

And, well, even when he had a fair amount of poisonous happiness running around his blood, part of him was not entirely face planted on the ground, and he could still think half clearly; at least about enough to be sure he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of the guy who could make his heart race at the sight.

“Maybe… we should, pass” Thomas managed between giggles and forcefully stopped words with incoherence.

“Yeah, mate” Thomas replied. “I’m done”

They gave each other quick glances with small laughs before turning around to leave that party as they held each other for support every time they _very_ unnecessarily tripped.

 

Thomas felt the fresh air of the night almost too relaxing, and he swore he could’ve let himself drop to the ground if his mind wasn’t too caught up with the fact that Newt was right there by his side. They stopped moving for a moment, unsure of where to go. Should they go home now? Was that it? An awkwardly fun night and they just- goodbye? That didn’t seem right in the slightest.

Newt threw the guy another one of his adorably distinctive smiles, and that was enough for Thomas to realize there was no way he was returning home now.

Thomas returned the smile, and even dared to add a cute laugh as he looked at the ground. He then proceeded to start walking right at the middle of the street, and _Newt followed him without a question_.

Neither of them had been around that area before, and neither of them seemed to care; they just walked in a straight line, following the wind, and holding each other’s presence with their heartbeats. Thomas would’ve found it funny how Newt’s steps were uneven, and how he’d bump into him more often that not if he weren’t doing the same thing. He had never experienced what it was like to walk around drunk, but he had now agreed that it wasn’t too bad; he felt just fine.

And even when they managed to walk in a straight enough line, they still noticed how they would begin to drift apart and start walking sideways because of the slight dizziness and the way the street would turn in circles in their eyes from time to time.

"Where are you going?" Thomas laughed and giggled, pulling Newt by the fabric of his jacket's sleeve, closer to him. 

Newt laughed as well. "I don't know" He continued to laugh. That late at night, they weren't really talking about particularly anything. And, yes, it was partly because of the remains of alcohol in their systems, keeping them from matching their words with their thoughts, and making every step they took terribly short and slow; but it was also because of that night time air. Everything was calm; no voices could be heard, no cars to be seen, no daylight crisis of an every-day life. It was just them, the city, and the cool air; feeling at peace, like nothing could disturb them; nothing could touch them, with the exception of each other, possibly, they didn't find a reason to break the silence. At least, not until Newt felt like his steps were becoming heavier by the second, and he tapped Thomas' arm a few times and pointed directly toward the edge of the street, right in front of such a suburban house, the sober side of his brain wondered if they'd get kicked out for sitting on the edge of someone's home. 

Thomas followed the direction of Newt's hand, and it didn't take long before he realized they were already sat on the ground; just when his brain started to regain its balance, and the street didn't seem to be spinning anymore. 

"I don't know how I'm going to get home" Newt tried to speak; dragging every word. At the same time, he laid on his back, letting himself rest on the front porch of a stranger. Thomas wanted to do the same thing, but he feared he would fall asleep right there, and he wouldn't wake up until the owner of the house was kicking his bones out. 

"Let's just stay here 'til it passes" Thomas answered. "Won't take long" 

"Hope not"  

A few moments of silence continued to pass, until Newt spoke again, asking for the time. Thomas took his phone out of his jeans and tried to unlock it, only to find that it was out of battery. 

"Phone's dead" As soon as he answered, he opted for looking down at Newt, trying to find the pocket where the boy kept his own. When he spotted a rectangular outline on his left front pocket, he reached out, and without warning, he took it out before he pressed the button to look at the time. 

"God, it's almost four a.m." He exhaled as he placed Newt's phone back inside his pocket and regained his previous posture. 

Newt let out a groan and got up from lying on the ground, so he was sitting once again. "When did that happen?"  

Thomas chuckled at the comment. He could agree that time had passed a little too fast, and he had no idea how it was possible that the last time he had checked his phone, it had only beet one in the morning. It surely hadn't felt like that much time had passed. But then again, what did he expect? He was drunk. And he was with Newt. Those were the only two times Thomas knew could alter his perception of time. 

"But this, nice…" Newt continued. "This is nice" He added as he sighed deeply, breathing the cold breeze. 

"What is?" Thomas asked; his eyes battling between staying open and giving into the weariness of the night. 

"This is" Newt repeated. "Place is nice, weather's nice, party's nice, porch's nice..." He stopped to send Thomas  _a look_ , accompanied with a side smirk. "You  _is_  nice, Henry" He looked down to laugh at himself. 

"What?" So did Thomas. "Fool" He playfully pushed Newt to the side; not hard enough to make him fall, but strong enough to move him from his place. He didn't mind, though, he just continued to laugh and moved back to his position next to Thomas, maybe a little closer this time. 

"Tell me something" New almost whispered. 

"What?" Thomas asked one more time. 

"I don't know, anything" 

"Like what?" He chuckled. 

"Uhm" Newt looked at the sky, trying to think of something. "Tell me something you have never said to anyone before" He looked at Thomas with a pair of soft eyes and a bright smile. 

"Oh" Thomas breathed, and he swore he turned a little red. "Uh..." He nervously laughed, and Newt may have thought it was an adorable sight, because he laughed with him. "I don't know" 

Thomas didn't know why he suddenly felt so shy when Newt asked stuff like that. Well, maybe he did know why. What he didn't know was which of all the reasons he had for being nervous around Newt was the one acting up at the moment. 

"Come on, tell me" Newt asked in such a cute way, Thomas almost considered a few things he could tell him. He started travelling back into his mind, trying to find something. 

He could've told him that he had never played football before, or that the only one crazy in his last relationship had probably been himself, because he made it all up. He could've told him his name was actually  _Thomas_ , but he decided not to, just in case it would ruin the moment, or the friendship, that is.

"I..." He began. "I am afraid of the dark" He finished, with a bit of shame in his voice. 

"What? That's your big secret?" Newt responded, and Thomas noticed how the dragging of the words was barely a lazy motion now, the alcohol's effect beginning to cease, probably. "Isn't that, like, a really common thing?" 

"I know it is," Thomas defended himself. "I know that, but when you're fifteen and you have to stick it up when everyone turns off the lights or else they'll make fun of you, that's embarrassing" 

"Then how are you not shaking right now, it's dark as hell" Newt asked, curious as he was. 

"Well," Thomas stretched his legs on the ground and rested his hands on the ground behind him, changing his position. "It's more of a, being alone in the dark kind of thing" 

"Uh" Newt mumbled. "Then I guess it's a good thing you're not alone right now, aye" 

Thomas was aware of that British accent, but sometimes, it was much more prominent, and it sounded like a sweet, yet adventurous melody. He turned to look at Newt, who was already staring at him; his eyes lingering onto Thomas'. "Right" He added with a cheeky smile. 

Thomas liked to talk to Newt, he liked texting him, he liked being around him, hanging out with him during the day, and now he knew that hanging out with him during the night was great, too. But he also liked to stay in silence with him, he liked to stare, and he didn't mind when neither of them had anything to say. 

Newt was staring deeply into Thomas' eyes; like he was trying to read his mind, like he wanted to say something so specific, there were no right words for it, and was trying to send him the message through their minds. 

It didn't happen slow and carefully, he didn't ask for permission nor asked if it was okay; it just happened. Newt leaned down, and he kissed Thomas. Their lips were softly pressed against each other, and Thomas had a hard time realizing it was actually happening. Part of him thought it was as natural and effortlessly as a bird flying above the tallest tree; as soft and warm as his family's affection on a cold night; and the other part of him believed this was nothing like those brief fantasies he'd caught himself having in the middle of the day. 

A few seconds later, they pulled apart, both of them with small smiles painted on their faces. 

"Uh" Newt breathed, quickly looking at the ground. "I'm sorry" He added, as he avoided Thomas' stare, and laughed to himself. 

Thomas laughed as well; the kiss had been so quick and innocent, the situation seemed almost comical. 

"No problem" he responded, a tad breathlessly and smiled at the blond. 

Both boys looked at each other one more time and proceeded to let out a series of laughs and giggles, which turned out to be the perfect solution to a possibly awkward moment between the two. 

"So," Newt let out as he rubbed his hands on the fabric of his jeans’ legs. "You ready to go home?" 

"Are you?" Thomas turned the question around. 

"Yeah, ready" Newt stood up, instantly being followed by Thomas, and they walked home; leaving the dark, empty streets with yet another secret to keep.

 

The next morning, Teresa woke up earlier that everyone else. She walked straight to the kitchen and carefully placed her laptop on the counter, and as she opened cabinets and worked utensils, she played an episode of a current show and made herself some breakfast at the same time. It’s not like she enjoyed being an early bird, it’s just that she had some _business_ to attend; and by business, she meant Thomas.

She had been meaning to talk to her brother about the hell of things being weird with him that summer for the longest time, but the boy would always find a way to avoid all sort of discussions; but not today, not today, Thomas.

And just as she had expected, her baby brother ran down the stairs, and the sight of him was so comical, she fought hard not to laugh. The boy had an unlaced shoe on, and the other was being held with one hand as he tried to put on his jacket with the force of thin air, apparently, because his other hand was holding a toothbrush and the toothpaste tube at the same time. Teresa wondered how in the world he expected to put the toothpaste on the toothbrush like that.

So, naturally, Teresa waited, and he looked at him and his battling actions with his own clothes before she decided to speak, making the boy jump out of his place, dropping one or two things along. “Where are you going, lover boy?”

The look on Thomas’ face must’ve been too much to handle, because even when Teresa had planned that intervention with such seriousness, laughing out loud was the first thing she was able to do.

“Why are you laughing?” Thomas asked as soon as he felt himself able to speak clearly after being scared that way.

“You, Tom” Teresa laughed softer than before, and the boy showed her his confused look. “Go get yourself together and come back, please” She mummed him.

Of course, Thomas felt like he had been busted in a crime, and if he hadn’t known perfectly what it was all about and that was coming was not only a fraternal intervention on a sibling’s first love drama, but in a much more complicated thing, he wouldn’t have been so scared. But, even when he was scared, he decided not to try to fight it anymore; he wanted to tell someone; it was true, even if he felt like he didn’t. So, with a heavy sigh and a defeated look, he walked into his grandparent’s downstairs bathroom and did as told.

When he came out, with both shoes on and laced all the way up, his jacket well worn on both sides and no toothpaste residue on his face, he found Teresa eating a bowl of cereal and watching some sort of dark and dramatic show on her lap top, and she didn’t even turn to look at him, she just spoke. “So, who’s the cute blond, huh?” She asked her brother without taking her eyes off the screen, but when Thomas didn’t respond, she _had_ to look at him.

Thomas sighed and lazily walked across the room to sit on the stool in front of Teresa, completely facing her. “His name is Newt” and Thomas couldn’t have been more adorable, because Teresa’s plan of being the serious and put together older sister failed immediately. She looked at him with puppy eyes and couldn’t help but make an “aww” sound.

Thomas looked away as he began to smile with his sister. “His name is Newt, okay?” He repeated a little defensively; but his smile never leaving his face.

“Okay, okay” She laughed. “When did you meet him?”

Thomas wanted to try not to make it obvious that he knew where the conversation was going, but he knew he had failed before he could even try.

“Uhm, when we got here, I think” Thomas seemed thoughtful.

“You think?” Teresa threw him a look.

“Okay, okay” He surrendered trying to look like he was having a hard time remembering the best moment of his summer. “Yeah, the night we got here, when mum and dad said they were too tired and went straight to sleep and grandma said it was bingo night, I supposed if no one was here, well, I could go outside, and look around”

“And you, what? Met him, instantly became inseparable?” Teresa guessed.

“No, I mean, I saw him once or twice at the park with his younger sister before we even spoke”

“Oh, so, you noticed him and then just creeped around, spied on him, and then you went up to talk to him”

“No! I didn’t creep around, I just _saw_ him”

“Okay, okay” Teresa reassured him as she continued to laugh. “Don’t get so worked up, I’m just asking” and Thomas sighed, because even when he was feeling somewhat relieved by telling Teresa about everything, there was still something that kept him up at night sometimes, and he knew very well what is was.

“So,” Teresa wanted to waste no time. “Do you like him?”

Thomas had a hunch that maybe, just maybe, Teresa would end up asking something about _that_ , but he didn’t think she’d come up to him so strong and so fast.

Thomas looked up, his eyes widened, and shiny sparks made them look like Christmas plates. He felt so- naked. He had managed to keep Newt under the radar for that length of summer; and had grown used to being capable of going out during the day without question from his family and sneaking out without getting caught. He had been rather careful about the deal; not like he was hiding either, he just didn’t feel like ranting about it.

Maybe, somehow, it hadn’t been enough. Maybe his family could still see the way he smiled at his phone when he was casually texting at random hours of the day; maybe they could sense how he had evolved from the guy who wanted to stay in his room all summer, playing videogames and watching Netflix, to the one who would wake up early to go outside.

Still, Thomas didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t move at all.

“Tom” Teresa called to snap him out of his thoughts. “It’s okay, you can tell me anything”

Thomas released the air he had been holding, and he felt his body relaxing from the tension, but he still didn’t feel like answering.

“You do know that, right?” His sister insisted.

“Yeah” He answered softly with a nod, and with that simple response, Teresa widened her eyes and looked at him as the frustrating younger brother he could sometimes be.

“Sooooo” She practically screamed. “Tell me!”

Thomas began to roll his eyes.

“…Do you like him?” This time, the question had been much simpler to process, because Teresa actually looked- interested? Keen to know?

Thomas could only stare at her for so long before he felt like giving in was his best option.

“I think I do” Finally.

It was hard for Thomas not to smile, or almost cry, at the sight of Teresa’s response to his confession, because, she was _one of those girls_ , indeed.

“Oh, that’s adorable” Teresa added to Thomas’ line with a higher pitch in her voice and something Thomas could only describe as a ‘puppy face’. “You have a crush on that boy”

“You seem a little too excited about it” Thomas argued.

“Well, yeah, I’m excited” Teresa responded with a wide smile still painted on her face. “I’m excited for you, Tom!”

Thomas smiled kindly, and then he sighed.

“Wait, do you know if he likes you back?” Teresa’s expression had a sudden turn. And the question couldn’t have hit the jackpot more. That was what Thomas had been asking himself all night, he was even thinking about it right then. It had all been very hidden and sad, the thought of Thomas having a crush on Newt without the other returning the feeling, but after what had happened that past night, Thomas knew.

“What?” Teresa asked confused, looking at Thomas’ storm as he got too caught up with the memories he was reliving, and then, when realization finally hit, she leaned back and almost screamed, “He doeees!”

Again, Thomas could only smile.

“But, how do you know? Have you told him? Did he tell you anything?” She asked, question after question, and Thomas began to shake his head.

“Well, not exactly” He answered, but the smile on his face could not be appearing any faster, and Teresa’s confusion could only last a few seconds.

She smiled widely. “What happened?” She asked excitedly.

And Thomas wanted Teresa to figure out on her own, but he mentally slapped himself for even believing his sister could be so patient, because when Thomas twisted his mouth and made a “hm” sound, she forcefully grabbed his arm and shook him violently. “Tell me! What happened!”

“Teresa!” Thomas exclaimed, getting a little irritated by her excitement, but forgot all about it almost instantly, since the power of those memories could actually make him feel all sort of things. “Okay, calm down” He told Teresa, and meant it to himself.

“Last night-”

“You were out with him last night?! How did mum and dad let you-” She stopped herself, and then she gasped loudly. “You snuck out, didn’t you?”

Thomas rolled his eyes again. “Teresa! Let me finish!” He acted offended and hid the tremor he suddenly felt, he wished Teresa wouldn’t mention anything out the sneaking out to their parents.

“Okay, I’m sorry” She laughed, and then she returned to her original position; leaning on top of the counter to look at her brother directly, with her face resting on her fist.

“…Last night,” Thomas repeated. “We went back home, to a friend’s party,”

Teresa opened her eyes widely, and before she could mention anything about why on Earth her brother was doing a long, walking hour to their house at night, Thomas interfered. “Don’t freak out, it’s not too bad”

And he continued, “When we left the party, we sat down on the street because we were-” He stopped again and looked at Teresa cautiously; he hadn’t thought about the amount of things he had to confess in order to get to the part of the story he wanted to tell. “…a little drunk,”

Teresa shook her head and softly commented on how much of a rebel he was, but didn’t show more interest on that subject, giving Thomas his cue to continue.

“We were talking about stupid things, and then,”

“And then what, Thomas!” Teresa shouted.

“Newt kissed me” He showed a sweet smile.

Teresa’s expression and body melted at the same time, which made Thomas smile even brighter.

Admitting these things out loud for the first time felt quite nice, not as hard nor as impossible as he had once expected.

“Did he kiss you like- kiss you, kiss you, or was it just like a peck?” Teresa asked excitedly.

“Teresa!” He yelled again. “Let’s not talk about that here anymore, mum and dad could hear, or worse, grandma”

“You’re right, I’m sorry” Teresa quickly apologiced as she regained a good sitting position. “But we can talk about it outside of the house…” Teresa added suggestively.

“Yes, we can, but not right now” Thomas got up from the stool and adjusted his jacket. “I have to meet Newt” He tried his hardest not to smile at the name.

Teresa pouted, but she didn’t push it.

“See you later” Thomas said as he turned around and left the house. Once outside, with a different air and a different temperature, he began to feel different. Sure, he had met Newt an awful lot of times before, and he was never that nervous, but right then, he felt different; maybe because of the excitement left from finally confessing.

He hadn’t walked more than a couple of blocks, when his phone rang once, which forced him to stop and stare at the phone in his hand. He unlocked it, and he read the message on the screen.

“Henry, I am so sorry! My parents want to ‘do family stuff’ right now and I can’t escape right now. It’ll only be the morning, let’s just push it for the afternoon, yeah?”

Oh.

Yeah, Thomas was disappointed. He had really been looking forward to seeing Newt that day, especially because of what had happened between them the other night. Deep down, he wanted to make sure that even when he was sure everything was reciprocated, nothing would’ve changed between them. He wanted to make sure they could still joke about everything they could think of; that they could still hang out every day, all day with no tension or awkward silence in between; that they could still be friends, despite his mind going all sort of directions when it came to the blond.

On the other hand, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to turn around and head back home, so he could tell Teresa everything about his cute boy.

He sighed deeply, and he did turn around to head home.

As he opened the door to his grandparents’ house, and he dropped his keys on the coffee table, Teresa looked at him in confusion, being in the same position she had been when her brother had left a minute ago.

“Did you forget something?” Teresa tried to ask with a full mouth.

“Maybe we _can_ go talk about it, outside the house…”

 

And that’s what they did. Teresa had agreed to go to the park with Thomas just so she could openly ask as many questions as she wanted without being overheard by their family, and also because Thomas would have no excuse not to answer truthfully.

“Are you having fun?” Thomas asked, pretending to be annoyed. He wasn’t exactly proud of himself for denying that he, indeed, liked having someone he could rant about his crush; because he found that talking about it was better than keeping it to himself; somehow, it made it more real. Newt was not a hidden secret from the world, that for all Thomas knew, a boy like him could very much be imaginary. Then, he knew, he was pretty real.

Teresa didn’t seem to mind Thomas was acting all cold and annoyed, she could see right through the brunet, and Thomas was glad she could, because he didn’t know any other way to express his own excitement.

Teresa frowned and tilted her head to the side. “Of course I am, and you agreed to tell me everything, so don’t whine” She pointed at his face, earning an annoyed smile from the guy.

“Okay, so.., Thomas,” She began, gaining his attention. “Is Newt the first guy you’ve ever liked? Or…”

“Well, yeah” Thomas answered quickly. “I haven’t really liked anyone else before, not like this”

There was that puppy look on Teresa’s face once more.

“What?” Thomas snapped at her.

“I think this is really cute, Thomas”

He rolled his eyes. “Why is this _cute_?”

“Thomas, do you even realize the things you’ve been doing?”

“What, things…?”

“Shuck it, Thomas” Teresa exclaims, as if she was explaining something completely obvious and Thomas wasn’t there to catch it all. “You shower, like, every day, Thomas, you never shower”

“I shower!” He defended.

“Now you do, yes” Teresa smiled widely. “You get out of the house, you actually go outside, and with nobody forcing you or dragging you out of your bedroom, you sneak out in the middle of the night to go and do things,” Teresa stopped only to motion herself going mad; her hands shaking on both sides of her face, allowing a space for Thomas to answer with a “I only did that once”.

“But you did it! By yourself! Your crazy friends didn’t, you did!”

Thomas smiled.

“We’re having breakfast, and you’re smiling at your food, we have lunch and you smile down at you’re phone, at dinner you rush like someone would steal your food if you didn’t chug it all into your cheeks and run to your bedroom, you have this wildly awesome new energy, which I didn’t think you’d be capable of having, and Thomas,”

She pointed at his head. “You did your hair today”

Thomas pulled his hands up quickly, feeling embarrassed, and ran his fingers through his hair, doing absolutely nothing no it. “I didn’t to that much to it”

“I know, it looks just as bad, but still,” Teresa criticized his never changing spiked, gelled up hairstyle. “You tried!”

“Do you realize you’ve been doing all these things?” Teresa asked again, but this time she really wanted Thomas to answer on his own.

“I mean,” Thomas stared into the distance. “I guess I know I’m doing it, I just didn’t think it meant anything else other than actually doing things for the sake of doing them, you know?”

Teresa frowned, and Thomas sighed when he noticed he hadn’t made himself clear.

“I’m aware I’m taking more showers than usual, and that I go out and, only once, sneak out, and all, but I do it for him, so I can see him and hang out, I never thought that I’d actually changed _because_ of him”

“Aww” Teresa exclaimed quietly. “That’s even more adorable”

Thomas felt his sister’s arm softly wrapped around the side of his frame and her head rest on his shoulder before she gave him a tight squeeze. It didn’t feel as uncomfortable as they probably looked, considering they were sitting down on a bench and they couldn’t face each other completely. Either way, Thomas appreciated it completely.

“There is one more thing I want to ask you, though” Teresa asked, with her arms still wrapped around her brother.

“What?” Thomas replied calmly.

“Why does he call you _Henry_?”

Teresa’s voice had genuine clueless vibrations to it; and so did Thomas’ heart, because it suddenly skipped more than a few beats, and then it possibly sunk and stopped.

Thomas didn’t answer; he didn’t move, either.

After no quick response came out of Thomas’ mouth, Teresa released him and looked him in the eye, but the boy wasn’t looking back at her. Teresa followed Thomas’ gaze, to see what he was looking at, but there wasn’t anything in that direction. Thomas was just staring at the nothing.

“Thomas?” Teresa called his attention; which was about enough to make the boy breathe again, but he still said nothing. “Thomas” Teresa repeated, more firmly that time.

Thomas turned his head slowly toward Teresa, and his eyes took a second longer to follow, but they eventually did, and Thomas was looking directly into Teresa’s eyes. He couldn’t tell if he was feeling scared, ashamed, disappointed, or all of the above.

“I…” Thomas sighed. “Because I told him that’s my name,”

Teresa frowned one more time, still looking at Thomas. The confusion and the slight concern were evident in her eyes.

“Why would you tell him your name is Henry?” Teresa still wore her frown. “Wha-why?” She repeated, motioning with her hands.

“I might have exaggerated a few details about my life when we met” Thomas explained, avoiding Teresa’s gaze, but still being able to feel her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

“How is renaming yourself as _Henry_ an exaggeration?” All Thomas could do was feel bad for Teresa, trying to cope with all the misleading and, if Thomas dared say, stupid information. “-and I don’t even understand why-”

“I might have also mentioned a few things that weren’t precisely true”

Teresa tilted her head and gave Thomas _a look_ ; a look that showed she was both disappointed and unimpressed. “What kind of things?”

Thomas was about to speak, preparing his face and his words for working on a few excuses; too bad Teresa could see right through it, and she stopped him before he could even try.

“What things, exactly?” She corrected her previous question.

Thomas couldn’t think of a better way to start with _the story_ than to sigh to himself. “I might, have said that, I was the captain of the football team in my school, that I loved football and that I was really good at it”

Teresa almost laughed. Thomas had been right, that was an exaggeration of the truth.

Thomas sighed and shook his head. “I said a bunch on things like, being popular, having a lot of friends, a long record of ex-girlfriends, living in a better Town than Sherman…”

“There’s nothing wrong with Sherman” Teresa snapped, interrupting Thomas.

“I know that” He continued, feeling even more embarrassed. “It’s just not one of the first things you hear of America” He shook his head to himself again. “People wouldn’t really be impressed by a guy with all my extensive qualities and attributes to choose from,” He added sarcastically.

“Is that what you wanted to do?” Teresa asked almost immediately. “Impress him?” She showed a kind smile.

Thomas looked at her without saying a word.

“Tom, would it be too unnecessary to say that you didn’t have to do any of that?”

“Yeah, pointless” He turned his head back to facing the nothing and let it fall on the backrest of the bench. “I know he doesn’t care about any of the things I said to him the first time, I mean, everything else he knows about me is true, and he’s still around, so I guess he cares about that”

“Yeah, that’s good news” Teresa tried to cheer him up.

“It is, except for the fact that I have to keep lying to him about these stupid little things I sometimes can’t even remember saying, because it’s not like I can just say _hey Newt, remember all the things I told you about me when we met, yeah, they’re all fake, oh, and my name isn’t Henry, it’s Thomas, let’s go back to being friends like I never lied to you_ ”

And before Teresa could react to that, she straightened her position on the bench and leaned in to the side, so she could face Thomas better.

“Wait, yeah,” She shrugged as she laughed as well. “Why _did_ you tell him your name was Henry?”

Thomas could feel his body shrinking at the sight of his sister, and his face burning bright red despite the cold breeze hitting them.

“That’s the dumbest part of the story, mind if we just let that slip?” He grinned embarrassedly, his body sinking down.

“You wish! Just tell me!” Teresa began to poke him in the ribcage. “You said you’d tell me _everything_!”

“No, I didn’t, you did!” Thomas tried to release himself from Teresa’s tickle one-sided battle.

“Tell me, Tom!”

“Okay, okay!” Teresa stopped tickling him. “Fine, but it _is_ the dumbest part of the story,” They looked closely at each other.

“I did research on… popular names in Britain” He steadied his voice as best as he could.

Teresa looked at him carefully, saying nothing, and as her expression began to open up and her eyes started to shine brighter, she let out a small laugh, and when Thomas started to laugh in embarrassment to himself, Teresa lost it, and she burst into laughter.

“No you didn’t” Teresa laughed more. “Tom, that’s just dumb”

“I know it is! I told you it was dumb!” Thomas hid his face with his hands.

“Okay, but how did that happen? Did you make him wait when he asked for your name so you could look at names on your phone?”

“No,” Thomas showed a disgusted face, as if that option was any less embarrassing. “I told you before, I saw him, and then we met, days later, so I was ready,”

“So, you did stalk him!”

“I didn’t stalk him!”

“Who did you stalk?”

Thomas and Teresa both stopped laughing and turned their heads at the same time, so they could face the person talking to him.

“Hi, Thomas”

Thomas’ brain registered that face, trying so hard to remember it; he didn’t really want to seem that rude in front of a person who possibly knew him and he had somehow forgotten.

The girl smiled a few times before that same smile started to fade, maybe realizing that Thomas didn’t know who she was, so she looked at the ground for half a second. However, before the girl could say anything, a strike of lightning hit Thomas’ brain.

“Oh, hi Brenda”

The girl smiled brightly once again.

“Uh, no one” Thomas shook his head and answered to her previous question. A couple seconds of silence, and Thomas spoke again. “Brenda, this is my sister, Teresa”

“Hi” Brenda greeted her excitedly.

“Hey, nice dress, it’s very pretty” Teresa complimented her.

“Oh, thank you, that’s so sweet” She smiled at Teresa, and then quickly returned her gaze to Thomas. “Hey, I think I saw you at my party last night, but when I wanted to talk to you, you were gone”

Teresa eyed the both of them, studying their expressions.

“Yeah,” Thomas dragged his response. “I left kind of early”

“Oh, that makes sense”

“Yeah,” He repeated. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in Sherman?”

“My brother lives here, we came to visit him for the weekend” She threw a flirty smile at him.

“Oh,” Thomas started to feel uncomfortable. “Nice”

Brenda and Thomas had probably met no more than five times in school, and they never said anything to each other besides a kind “hi” or “bye” when they met in the hallways with the rest of their friends, never paying attention to one another; she was another classmate Thomas hadn’t had the time or the interest to meet yet. She had always been closer to being a stranger, but now that Minho had mentioned something about a crush, Thomas couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable around her.

And it’s not like Thomas hated Brenda; she was a pretty girl, kind and smart, but his thoughts were currently occupied by another person.

Thomas felt like Teresa could’ve sensed the tension and Thomas’ discomfort, because she broke the silence just in time, and proceeded to take the lead in the situation.

“Hey, Brenda, walk with us?”

 

For the next hour or so, Teresa had done small talk with Brenda, allowing Thomas to casually participate and laugh in between. She asked about school, home, what they wanted for college, _if_ they wanted to go to college, and she nonchalantly mentioned something about her having a crush on a guy who was actually in college, and that he seemed to like her back, even when she was just finishing high school.

They made plans for going certain places when they returned to Sherman, which all three of them had trouble believing they would keep; and they talked about the things they missed from that town.

“Brenda, have you met Thomas’ friend, Newt?” Teresa casually dropped the question.

Thomas and Brenda both turned their heads to Teresa at the same time. Thomas looked almost terrified.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so” Brenda replied softly. “Does he go to our school?” She asked, facing Thomas that time.

“N-no, I met him at the beginning of summer, he’s visiting from London” He smiled.

And just like that, thanks to Teresa and Thomas’ inability of denying things, Brenda became the first stranger to know the story of how Thomas tried to impress a cute, British blond by lying about his complete identity.

Despite Brenda’s obvious crush on Thomas herself, and having appeared completely taken aback by the revelation, and disappointed by the indirect cockblocking, she was just as affected and touched as Teresa was.

“But, wait, I have a question” Brenda wouldn’t let the embarrassment die, either. Thomas secretly hoped she wouldn’t also ask about the _why Henry_ thing.

“Are you going to tell him the truth?”

Teresa internally slapped herself for not having thought about asking that question herself, but she was definitely intrigued by it, and thanked Brenda for having done the honours.

Thomas sighed.

“I don’t think so,”

Both Teresa and Brenda began to abjure and complain at the same time, and Thomas could barely focus on either of the voices.

“Look, I’ve thought about it before, and trust me, I do hate the idea of lying to him every day, but…” Thomas sighed, and debated between the few possible ways he could say what he wanted. “But, I am not going to tell him”

“I don’t want to ruin what we already have” He continued when he saw the girls’ mouths open to speak. “If I tell him the truth, things are going to happen, and I don’t want things to happen”

“So, when he’s your boyfriend, and you take him home, are you going to ask your parents to call you _Henry_?” Brenda teased.

“And when you get married, you’ll have to tell all the guests to play the same game of ‘call me Henry, not Thomas’” Teresa contributed.

“You might have to change your name right now, Thomas” Brenda continued.

At that point, the two girls were laughing together, and Thomas was trying hard not to.

“No, that’s the thing” Thomas tried to explain. “He is not going to be my boyfriend, we are not getting married, and I am not changing my name”

Both girls stared.

“He’s going back to England when summer’s over, we are never going to see each other again, there’s no need for him to know the truth”

“Are you sure?” Teresa held his gaze. “You could always get a football scholarship and move to London” She tried to stabilize her words, but couldn’t make it to the end of her joke without bursting out into laughter. Brenda joined her, and Thomas began to think that they were enjoying his misery more than needed.

“Oh, come on!” Thomas’ posture became little. “I am serious”

The girls laughed more, and even when Thomas had been trying to hold back and keep a straight face, he began to laugh as well. “Why are we laughing at this?”

The three teens continued walking and laughing at the same time.

Having lost track of time, Thomas was taken aback when his phone rang; loud and stubborn. It was not a text, it was a call. He took his phone out of his pocket, and his breath stopped when he saw Newt’s name on the screen. For a second, all that gossiping and crush-talking had made him forget Newt was a real person he could admire in real life.

He answered with no hesitation, anyway.

“Hey, Newt”

Teresa and Brenda stared at each other and screamed in silence, mirroring one another.

“Henry, don’t hate me, I’m sorry”

“Wha- why?”

Teresa mouthed _what is he saying?,_ but Thomas completely ignored it.

“My parents asked me to bring my sister with me, wherever I was going, so, I have an insect attached to my hip”

“ _Heeeey!_ ” Thomas could hear a distant complain, and he laughed at the phone.

“Oh, well, that’s not-” Thomas got cut off.

“It’s not my fault, I didn’t want to come either and be a third wheel with my brother and his boyfriend” He heard a sweet voice over the phone, assuming it was Newt’s sister, who had possibly taken his phone off his hands.

Thomas heard some weird noises on the other side, and just waited until someone spoke again. “Shuck it, Sonya” He heard off the distance.

“I’m sorry, I’m on my way,” Newt’s voice was shaking a bit. “I’ll be there in 5, maybe, you?”

“Uhm,” Thomas turned to face the girls. “I’m already here, I’m with my sister and a friend” The word friend rolled out of his tongue as if he had used it a million times already, despite having met Brenda officially only a couple hours ago.

“Oh, okay, then, see you, Henry”

“See you” Thomas waited a few seconds for Newt to hang up, and he didn’t do it until the other did.

“Right” Teresa let out, realizing something. “You had a date today”

“We’re hanging out, like any other day” Thomas corrected. “Let’s sit down”

 

When Newt arrived with a female, shorter version of himself, Thomas, Teresa and Brenda were sitting down on the grass, next to a big, leafy tree that provided the perfect shadow. Newt and Thomas greeted each other awkwardly, partly because that was the first time they had three other pairs of eyes on them, but also because that was the first time they saw each other after their late-night kiss.

“Newt, this is my sister, Teresa, and my friend, Brenda”

“This is Sonya, my younger sister”

For the next couple minutes, everyone was participating in one big, pointless, awkward, uncomfortable conversation about the weather. Thomas wanted to be sucked by the ground.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, Teresa stepped up again to save the day. “Hey, who wants ice-cream?”

Brenda caught the sign fast and stood up along with Teresa. “Sounds great, I’m in”

“Great, Sonya, wanna join us?”

Sonya didn’t even look at her brother before she was already on her feet next to the other girls. “Yeah, sure”

Thomas knew Teresa wanted to leave him alone with Newt, but she still played it safe and asked them if they wanted to go with them. Thomas looked at Newt, wondering if he hadn’t caught the unmentioned plan and he had actually wanted to go for ice-cream, but when his cheeks coloured a bit and remained silent, Thomas spoke.

“No, thank you, we’ll just stay here”

“Okay” Teresa answered. “I guess we’ll see you later, right?”

Everyone nodded and agreed.

“Bye, Henry” Teresa let out smoothly. Thomas couldn’t believe that girl.

“Yeah, bye -Henry” Brenda copied her, stumbling a little over the name, but managing not to call him by his real name. When all three girls turned around and walked away, Thomas definitely saw Brenda and Teresa laughing at what had just happened. He hoped Newt wouldn’t ask about it.

 

As Thomas had predicted, the girls didn’t return after their visit to the ice-cream parlor, and he assumed they had gone off to hang out by themselves, considering none of them were from Town and didn’t have any other friends around. Therefore, Thomas and Newt knew it was safe to leave the park. They ended up hanging out all day, like they usually did.

They had made plans for going skateboarding, but neither of them had their boards at the time, due to the inconveniencies that occurred during the day; breaking them from the plan. Nevertheless, they decided to stay there regardless.

The town was getting dark, and the familiar night time cold breeze was a nice touch to the cozy environment. They dropped everything they had been carrying and they just climbed at the top of the half-pipe, taking advantage of the opportune emptiness of the skatepark, and they just sat there and talked, joked and laughed for hours, until the night was so dark it was dangerous to be there.

“Do you think our sisters are still hanging out?” Newt asked right when he knew it was better for the both of them to head home and call it a night, but there was something at the tip of his tongue that Thomas could feel.

“I don’t think so, Teresa probably walked Sonya to your house and then went back home”

“And your friend? Is she- like, a really good friend? Would she stay in your house?”

Thomas was confused by such a weird set of questions, and he couldn’t help but frown in confusion at his friend.

“I mean,” Newt laughed it off. “Have you two been friends for long?”

Thomas laughed a little _. If he only knew_. “Not really,”

“It just looked like she- knows you”

“She doesn’t really, we haven’t been friends for that long, she’s more of my sister’s friend” There it was again. An exaggeration of the truth.

“Oh” Newt lowered his head, but quickly returned his gaze to Thomas’. “Then she must have a huge crush on you”

Thomas smiled a little.

“She does, huh?” Newt added, faking a smile.

“I think so, but, I wouldn’t know,”

Newt looked at him with a set of eyes Thomas hadn’t seen in a while, since- they kissed.

“Do you?” Newt threw a blank question. His voice was barely audible, but they were alone, so Thomas heard it perfectly.

“Do I what?” Thomas moved his eyes from one side to the other, clueless.

“Do you have a crush on her?”

Thomas looked almost offended; he dragged his head back and raised his eyebrows. “No,”

“I mean, she’s very pretty, and she looks like she’s smart, too, I didn’t talk to her much, but, she’s probably kind and funny,”

A wild thought ran through Thomas’ head.

“Wait, do _you_ have a crush on her?” He asked, hoping he’d be completely wrong.

Newt looked at him suggestively. And he was looking down.

_Oh no_. Thomas thought. His heart sunk for a moment.

But just then, Newt began to laugh. “No, of course not” But Thomas continued to stare at him cautiously. “I’m just saying that if you did like her, then that would be fi-”

“Newt, no, I don’t like Brenda, I don’t even know her that well” Thomas’ breath hitched, but he felt his blood continue to run around his body with a normal speed.

“Okay” Newt smiled widely and chuckled at his hands.

“Besides, I thought you knew who I had a crush on” Thomas managed to keep his words steady and stutter-free; never believing there was enough teasing.

Newt raised his face and looked at Thomas, confused and concerned. “I do?”

“Yeah, you do” Thomas surprised himself with how calm he was handling the situation. He took this moment to pretend he was adjusting himself at the top of the pipe, but only did it so he could be closer to Newt. “Because, it’s a person you know”

Newt raised his eyebrows. “Huh, a person in this klunky town that I know besides my own family,” Newt faked a thoughtful expression.

Thomas playfully punched Newt’s shoulder, showing his offended face, but laughing either way. “My town is not kluncky” Newt laughed back at him.

“Wait,” Newt stopped and faced Thomas with such seriousness he thought the boy had something important to say, which, he should’ve known better between all the teasing and the banter. “You don’t like my sister, do you?”

Thomas hit him again. “You idiot, of course not”

Neither of them said anything after that. They only sat there laughing and smiling to each other. Thomas wanted to say something, but he didn’t know how. He didn’t know what words to use; he didn’t know what tone of voice would be best; and he surely didn’t know if he should say it at all.

“There is, uhm,” Thomas began, unsure of how to continue, and avoiding Newt’s eyes. “…something I need to, uhm”

Newt laughed softly. “What?” He encouraged with a smile.

“I didn’t tell you-” He cut himself off before he said something he’d regret. “N-not everything”

“Henry” Newt whispered softly.

Thomas looked down at how his hands were shaking, and hearing _that name_ only made it worse. He couldn’t believe that for a moment, he had actually considered the option of telling him the truth; he had sort of accepted the fact that he would very possibly ruin everything they had.

Oh, he wished he could delete everything he had just said. But he couldn’t; he had mumbled unreasonable phrases, and Newt was there, looking at his eyes, expecting him to finally let out what he wanted to say.

But no, it wasn’t the right time, if such thing existed, he was not going to confess. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, smiling and laughing at himself. When he opened his eyes, Newt was still there, he was still looking at him, and he was still expecting Thomas to speak, but with the cutest smile Thomas had ever seen. So, Thomas smiled at Newt again, and he looked down at his lips, carefree and shameless, and he leaned in a bit too fast.

Up there, at the highest point of the skatepark, during one of the coldest nights of the month, Thomas’ lips met in perfect sense with Newt’s, and they shared their second kiss.

That one had been different, it was a lot softer than the first one, but at the same time, so much firmer. There was no alcohol involved; neither of them was acting out of impulse. Their lips didn’t move, they were still releasing all the accumulated pressure, but Thomas was able to raise his hand up and hold the side of Newt’s face, taking advantage of his long fingers as he pressed them on his hair.

Slowly, their lips pulled away, but their faces didn’t. Eyes still closed, foreheads resting against each other, the tips of their noses touching; Thomas’ other hand traveled to the other side of Newt’s face, and Newt’s hands were wrapping around Thomas’ torso.

They caressed each other’s skin for a second, breathing the same air, and Thomas whispered, “Don’t say you’re sorry” Remembering how their last night kiss had ended up.

It took Newt no time before he answered, “I’m not” And their lips met again.

That time, their lips moved in perfect harmony, their hands never leaving the other’s skin; they smiled in between movements, and the thought of telling Newt the truth never crossed his mind again. At least not for that night.

 

It didn’t take them too long to fall on the sweet, infatuated routine. Newt and Thomas would hang out during the day; sitting on their usual spot on the park and talk about nonsense or taking extra time and going to get some food they could bring to their own landmarks. They would catch a movie from time to time, hang with each other’s siblings occasionally. The days it was becoming too much for either of their families to not see them at all because they were hanging out all the time, they would decide to keep a day for their own relatives. However, that didn’t keep them from texting each other all day.

That’s how they spent the rest of the summer, hanging out during the day, and the nights... well, the nights when they hung out were different. Not bad, just excitingly different.

Every night, right after a full-on make out session in the dark, or a very deep, sometimes rather heated, conversation, Thomas would wish the summer would never end. What if he could take Newt home so they could spend a longer time together? What if, when he went back to school, Newt was there with him? He could show him around, have lunch with him every day, invite him over to his house to study and play videogames after, he could make up excuses to get out on a school night so he could see the blond boy who occupied his mind at all times. He thought about an image where Newt would call Thomas his boyfriend, and how his heart would be squeezed at the word, the same way it would at the sole thought.

And sometimes, he would feel the growing ball of secrets and guilt he had formed all summer long crushing him a little. His touch was heavy, his kisses made him too breathless, his lingering eyes were too powerful to hold. So, sometimes, he wished the summer would be over already, so he didn’t have to carry the weight any longer.

He’d just have to wait and see.


End file.
